Review critical of processes
After two years of using a company in which one of its directors was a shareholder, Environment Southland ordered an independent review of how it manages staff interests.
While the review is critical of the council’s processes of managing staff interests, there was no evidence that a staff member had acted inappropriately.
The short review, ordered by council chief executive Rob Phillips, was completed by independent consultant Bruce Robertson.
The New Zealand Companies Office register shows one of the shareholders in Envira Consulting Ltd is Vincent Smith, the council’s policy planning and regulatory services director. His wife is the company’s director and other shareholder.
Envira was formed in March 2016 and the first invoice paid to the company by the regional council was in April 2016.
The council has paid $75,222.95 in total to the company.
The review says some of the council’s elected members had received complaints about an apparent conflict of interest, especially in relation to the engagement of Envira. It’s not known when those complaints were raised.
The review found the council did not document a lot of its verbal discussions relating to conflicts of interest.
The review says, ‘‘The absence of formally recorded actions means the review cannot conclusively conclude that interests were appropriately declared and managed.
‘‘However, there is nothing in the actions represented to me in the course of this work which suggests anything other than that the director [Smith], consistent in his agreement with the chief executive, has taken no part in the engagement or use of Lowe or Envira for services to the ES Consents and Compliance team.’’
The review found four initial Envira contract payments (which did not require director-level delegated authority) were countersigned by another director after initially being authorised by the director.
The review says the perception among some members of the public is that Smith’s official role and his interests in Envira are incompatible, and an objective